The City

He is precious

Peter begins chapter 2 of his first letter with a command for us to desire pure spiritual milk that we may grow up. We desire to grow spiritually having been born again by the imperishable, living, and abiding word of God as Peter mentioned at the close of chapter 1. He then tells us to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

He goes on in the chapter to give further commands on how to live. He tells us to abstain from the passions of the flesh, to keep our conduct honorable, to be subject to authorities, to honor everyone, love the brotherhood, and fear God.

It might seem that Peter is focused on Christian living and all the things we need to do to honor God and be Christ-like. But his greater purpose is pointing us toward the one whom we are imitating. Interspersed in all the commands Peter is giving are words of praise and honor to Christ. He gives us descriptions of Christ so that we don’t forget the one we worship and the reason we are seeking to grow to be like Him.

In verse 3, he says that the Lord is good. We learn of the goodness of the Lord as we read of how He blessed the people that He taught and healed and fed and ministered to while He was on earth. We have seen His goodness in many ways. But we have tasted of His goodness in our own salvation and the way He continues to care for us day by day.

In verse 4, Peter says Christ is a living stone. He goes on to quote from Isa 28:16 and Psalm 118:22 which speak of Christ being the chief cornerstone. Paul says in 1 Cor 10:4 that Christ is the Rock from whom we drink. We don’t normally think of a stone in the way Peter and Paul describes this stone. Peter says in verses 4 and 6 that this stone is precious. The world calls a number of different stones as precious, but no diamond or emerald compares to the Chief Cornerstone, the Rock of our salvation.

Christ the stone is precious because He is, as Peter says, “a living stone.” He is a cornerstone of our faith.

He is the one who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, who gave us mercy (verse 9).

He is the one who suffered for us having committed no sin (verses 21-22).

He is the one who set the example for us to follow (verse 21).

He is the one who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return (verse23).

He is the one who, when He suffered, did not threaten (verse 23).

He is the one who bore our sins on the tree (verse24).

He is the one who has healed us (verse 24).

He is the one who is the Good Shepherd and the Overseer of our souls (verse 25).

May He be the treasure of our hearts for truly He is precious.

Dale

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Comments

Kristen Bagley

Thank you

Mary Leadbetter

Amen. Thank you.

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Redeemer Church

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